


Belong to Your Creation

by neonmoonlight



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Harry is a woodland fairy, Louis is really fucking old, Niall is ???????, Nick is a human, No Smut, Other, Simon is EVIL, Stylinshaw endgame, Supernatural Elements, Zayn is a flower nymph, bc you need at least one human in the story when everyone else is Not Human, spoilers whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 03:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoonlight/pseuds/neonmoonlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Louis Tomlinson was the owner of a small store that sold things for varying magical needs, though a lot of the things bought and sold related to black magic. He’s owned Elk Heart Emporium for a very long time, and stopped counting after the first couple of decades. It’s a steady job and always has interesting perks, like when people look for too long at the skull and vials in the window display for too long. The new vials are always a nice addition afterwards. So it’s easy to say that he loves his job. He just wishes there was more to it sometimes.  One of those times was now. </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A story about magic, hijinks, realizations and becoming a unit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belong to Your Creation

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! So this fic is my pride and joy. I’ve been working on this baby since October and I would like to thank the following people.
> 
> [Chara](but-you-have-heard-of-me.tumblr.com) for letting me rant to her about this in class and reading it over for me, even though she really isn’t in the fandom.
> 
> [Colleen](spousematerial.tumblr.com) and [Lizzy](angstlarry.tumblr.com) who I met through a groupchat and volunteered to be my betas, you guys are the best and I love y’all so much!! 
> 
> Kelsey, aka tothemoonmydear who asked for shop names for a thing (I forget what) and I sent in a shop name idea and she responded with [this](http://tothemoonmydear.tumblr.com/post/122212435013/shop-name-idea-elk-heart-emporium) which basically inspired this whole fic.
> 
> And my final thanks goes to [Bitty](glowbucky.tumblr.com) who this story is dedicated to bc I love him so much and he helped me with ideas, let me talk about this story and congratulated me with each milestone I reached, because this fic is the longest thing I’ve written up to this point.
> 
> Also, this fic is set in America bc I'm a self indulgent ass who is too lazy to change it to be Accurate. It's an alternate universe, I can do what I want. [kissy face emoji]
> 
> Now! On with the story!

Elk Heart Emporium was a shop that was mostly out of the way and off the beaten path. To get to this shop you had to first be able to bring some form of identification, be it your ID, license, wand or even an talisman, one of the only requirements for it was that it had to contain enough memory if it wasn’t an ID card that you could be identified. Then you need to figure out where it is located, since it isn’t stated explicitly on the website or on the flyers you’ll find in your everyday magic shops. The location tends to come to you either in a dream or when you’re not paying attention to the television on a boring afternoon (usually Saturdays). Once you become aware of the location, you won’t forget about it and you’ll be able to see it on the website and the flyers. Once you see the location, you see the hours. By that point you will have gathered up the money you feel like spending or the item you need to trade for money you need or want, and will have treked out to the Elk Heart Emporium. When you arrive, you won’t see anything in the window displays besides an elk’s skull and various little vials. Do not look at those for long, they are not important. Entering the store, you may see dried herbs hanging from the ceiling, or the vials of carefully labeled potions and powders. What you will notice is the man sitting behind the counter reading something maybe, but definitely drinking tea.You need to show him your identification before you can shop. However, for this story you aren’t needed. In fact, you were just exiting. Here is the story of Elk Heart Emporium, and it’s owner. 

**

Louis Tomlinson was the owner of a small store that sold things for varying magical needs, though a lot of the things bought and sold related to black magic. He’s owned Elk Heart Emporium for a very long time, and stopped counting after the first couple of decades. It’s a steady job and always has interesting perks, like when people look for too long at the skull and vials in the window display for too long. The new vials are always a nice addition afterwards. So it’s easy to say that he loves his job. He just wishes there was more to it sometimes. One of those times was now. 

With it being October, you would assume that the sales in black magic items would go up, but they go down for the most part. The pawning of black magic items however does go up. Sighing softly, Louis jot down his inventory and the price of each item into the ledger, trying to pass the time. Waving his hand at his mug, he refilled it with nice hot tea. Humming to himself, he set the pencil down and leaned back in his chair. Slow days tend to be nice days when it’s any other month but in October things in the shop start acting up. Which is how his next customer found him, smacking at the jars containing the elk hearts that were on the counter. 

Looking up, Louis saw someone who looked like they belonged in one of the books that he sold about mystical beings. He also looked like a lost traveler, clothes hanging off his frame, rings on his fingers and fabric wrapped around his head to keep his hair out of the way. The man was gripping a jar filled with a deep blue substance. Glancing around, he saw Louis with his hand on one of the elk heart jars. When he saw Louis, the man seemed to relax as he walked up to the front counter. Slowly, Louis leaned back and picked up his mug. Looking over the rim of his mug, he watched the man take off the headscarf, letting his curly hair fall in his face. Definitely a fairy of some sort. 

Louis waited as the man seemed to be unsure of the way things were run. He was frozen, holding the scarf in hand, staring at the elk hearts. Louis cleared his throat which seemed to knock him out of his daze. He set down the scarf and then the jar containing a deep blue substance. This was the one thing that Louis dreaded the most of his job. Bracing himself, he picked up the scarf. Closing his eyes, he let himself be lost into the memories contained in the fabric. 

The first memory swims to the front of his mind, fuzzy around the edges and replacing the shop. He sees the owner of the scarf, though much younger, gripping it tightly as he hugs a woman who looks vaguely similar to him, (sister maybe?) but a few years older. He seems to be crying and she seems to be trying to hold herself together. There are suitcases just behind the pair and an open door behind those. Louis watched as the girl pulled back and took his face into her hands.

“ _Harry you have to promise me that you’ll keep an eye on mum._ ” The boy, Harry, nodded and wiped at his eyes, taking in a shaky breath. The girl smiled softly and took the scarf out of his hands to wrap it around his head, pushing the curls back. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and one last hug before pulling back and grabbing her suitcases, disappearing out the door. The memory then faded to black and seemed to stay that way for a while with just random snippets of conversation floating across the void. Louis pulled himself out of the memories and handed the scarf back.

“Here you go Harry. Welcome to Elk Heart Emporium, how may I help you today?” Harry wrapped the scarf around his neck before picking up the bottle he had with him.

“I found this in the back of my closet, and I was wondering if you could tell me what it is and if I could sell it.” Louis was a bit taken aback at the deepness of his voice, but he also talked slow like molasses almost so. Casting those thoughts aside, Louis gently took the bottle from Harry and was immediately hit by the magic contained within the small bottle. He felt a certain dark power wash over him and flow through his veins, scaring him slightly. Tamping down on the power, Louis pushed the various swirls of magic that were coming out, trying to find the source of the spell. When he found it, he almost dropped the bottle. Pulling himself out of whatever that was, he put the bottle down and stepped back.

“Harry, where did you find this again?” Louis clenched his fists and kept them under the counter to hide how bad his hands were shaking. Harry shrugged and shifted from foot to foot.

“Back of my closet, in a box of things from my mum's house.” Nodding slightly, Louis gently prodded the bottle. Chewing on his lip, he debated whether or not to tell Harry what was contained in the bottle. He opted for not saying anything about it just yet unless it was necessary and just get it out of Harry's hands.

“Listen Harry, I will give you a thousand dollars for this bottle but I want you to bring in the rest of the box so I can look through the contents. There might be something of importance in it.” Harry’s eyes widened slightly at the amount of money, clearly not expecting that much for a bottle that was only half the size of a soda can. Nodding slightly, Harry gave Louis a small smile.

“Alright, but if I may ask, what’s inside that bottle that makes it so valuable?” Louis busied himself with getting the payment into an envelope so he could stall for time. The thing with that bottle was that it contained some extremely powerful potion and even though Louis bought it, he has no intents to let anyone purchase the bottle and is in fact going to put it into his protective chest that is just under the counter where all expensive and illicit things go once purchased. Handing the envelope over, he grabbed Harry’s wrist and pulled him in.

“That bottle contains an extremely powerful potion that very few are trained to handle. It is used for some very dark shit so it’s good that you sold it to me and not let someone who probably has no idea what it can do buy it or someone who knows exactly what it can do find it and use it for a purpose it wasn’t made for. But I need to see the rest of that box because if this was something just randomly in there, who knows what could happen if other contents got into the wrong hands.” Harry gave Louis a firm nod before gently pulling his hand away and taking the money. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of the stuff. Bye Louis.” With a wave of his hand, he walked out the door and disappeared down the small alleyway. Huffing slightly, Louis leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Letting out a loud sigh, he smiled slightly as the various creatures in the shop echoed him. Sitting back up, he waved his hand to dim the lights slightly, getting approving hums from the creatures in the back of the shop (only people who go through a rigorous screening can own one). Opening his eyes, he decided that now was a good time to figure out what ingredients were used in the potion and what spell gave it its power. Getting up, he walked to the door and locked it, drawing the blackout curtains over the door and other window that allowed people to see into the shop. It was crucial that no one come into the shop when he is examining the potion. That being said, he also has to cover up the creatures because he’s not sure how it will affect them. So, singing softly to soothe them, he carefully covered up the various cages with protective cloth. Bracing himself, he turned back to the desk.

Pulling on his trusty pair of protective gloves, he carefully opened up the chest and grabbed the bottle. Locking the chest once again, he turned and set the bottle onto the table behind the counter made specially for the purpose of testing magick objects. When he scanned the bottle, he sensed an old old spell holding it together and giving the potion its power (its a very simple potion really, it’s all in the spell that the maker gives the potion that determines its power). So, setting the cauldron on the table and putting on his protective glasses and setting up the barrier so the spell wouldn’t escape, he set to work.

The second he opened the bottle to pour the potion into the cauldron he felt the power of the spell waving through the air lazily, trying to get past the barrier or burrow into Louis. Concentrating hard on the blue liquid, he closed his eyes and started the search through the potion for the ingredient that the spell has bonded too. He needs to know if he can break the spell and exchange it for something just as powerful but for something silly or if he needs to keep it locked away. When he figured it out, his heart sank to his stomach. Pulling out, he sighed to himself and siphoned the potion into a much more secure bottle and sealed it up tight. Pushing the glasses up, he dropped the barrier and put the cauldron in the basin to be washed and broke the original bottle, smashing it to sand. Waving his hands, the curtains drew back and the coverings on the cages fell back to be the artful drapes. Walking back to the break room, he pulled the gloves off and tossed them onto his workbench. Pulling out his phone, he flopped onto the couch and called up his roommate. 

“Zayn. I need your help with a thing.”

**

One of the perks of having an _Anthousai_ as a roommate is that there is someone who can actually take care of the plants you bring home. Another one of the perks is that the particular one that Louis is rooming with can tell if a potion is nature based and the exact ingredients along with the ratio of it to the liquid and the spell. Also that and his roommate happened to be an amazing chef and at least Louis got to eat something healthy for dinner every day even if he did get take out at the Emporium (delivered by one of his previous customers). So to say that he was glad that Zayn was home and making one of Louis favorite meals (vegetarian lasagna) would be a bit of an understatement. Gently tossing his bag onto the arm chair with the broken leg and a torn up back (it was picked up from the curb only because Louis wanted it and Zayn couldn’t say no), Louis made his way into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Zayn and resting his head on the others shoulder. At this point Zayn didn’t even jump, he just patted Louis arms and went back to making a salad to go with their dinner. Louis was glad that he didn’t say anything because really at this point Louis was ready to eat and just go straight to bed, even though he knew he couldn’t because Zayn still needs to look at the potion and figure out if Louis needs to be cleansed of the small bits of the spell that worked its way into him or not. 

Eventually though Zayn had to push Louis away so he could get the lasagna out of the oven. Pouting slightly, Louis grabbed the plates and silverware and put them on the island because really, who wants to sit at the dinner table when it's only two people. Sitting down heavily in his chair, Louis waved his hand at the cabinet holding the mugs and glasses, summoning two to float over to the table. Zayn gave him a look instead of saying anything about how lazy Louis was being and how he was using his magic for things it wasn’t made for. Louis just gave him a smile and then waved his hands at the salad and lasagna so it would float over to the island and Zayn wouldn’t have to carry it. Shaking his head at the smaller lad, Zayn smiled a bit and got out a bottle of potion from the fridge for Louis to drink, and a glass of juice for himself. Grimacing slightly, Louis took the bottle Zayn gave him and poured half of it into his glass. Downing half of it, he grimaced and stuck his tongue out at the glass before waving his hand at the lasagna, causing it to be cut neatly and evenly. Gently flicking his fingers, he smiled at Zayn as the lasagna was evenly divided up and served, along with a side of salad. 

“So what’s new with the shop besides that potion?” Louis shoved a large forkful in his mouth and just shrugged at Zayn, who was actually neatly eating his food. Swallowing, Louis crossed his legs under the table and leaned forward.

“New plant came in today, right after lunch, the owner looked really frantic about having it sold, didn’t stay for a chat just gave me it and took the money before running out of the shop. I think it’s from somewhere in the Amazon. You’ll need to look at it.” Humming slightly, Zayn nodded and told him about his day at the art museum and then his hour lunch where he went to the flower shop to pick up a few more plants. Louis hummed at the right spots as he shoveled down his food.

**

Harry on the other hand was slowly making his way through a small grove of trees in the park near his house. He found that the quiet of the woods and the illusion of solitude calmed him down and allowed for him to just relax for once. Humming to himself, he found the small clearing and sat down in the middle, allowing the energy of the forest to wash over him and ground him. Being a woodland fairy, he knew that spending too much time in the city was bad for him and he needed to have alone time just surrounded by nature. Sighing happily, Harry lay down on the soft and slightly damp grass, going over his day. 

When he got back from Elk Heart Emporium, he followed Louis’s instructions and went through the box that he took with him from his home when he moved. He found what he expected to see, a photo album that was half full with memories from his childhood, various scarves from his mom and sister, a sealed envelope that he wasn’t allowed to open until he met someone who knew what they could do with the contents and an amulet from his biological father. He figured that Louis would want to see the amulet at least but just to be safe, he shrunk the box down and placed it in his messenger bag. After that, he made his way out to the grove of trees, so he could get his energy back and to unwind. Closing in his eyes, Harry felt himself sink into the ground. Humming happily, he let himself doze off, glad that he is finally in a place where he can understand everything. Of course, like all good things, it didn’t last long enough for Harry to really enjoy it.

He heard Nick stumbling his way through the small wooded area long before he reached Harry. Obviously, he elected to ignore the footfalls that were heading his way, trying to soak up a bit more peace before he had to be dragged back into the apartment he called home. Not moving a finger, Harry conjured up a root and smiled to himself when he heard Nick trip over it and land right next to him. Finally, Harry opened his eyes and looked over at Nick who was pouting at him heavily. Poking his side, Harry jumped up and waved his hand at the root, causing it to sink back into the ground. Sighing loudly (and dramatically), Nick stood up and brushed off his jeans and shirt.

“No need to be so dramatic Harold.” Rolling his eyes, Harry grabbed Nick by the hand and pulled him out of the small wooded area and into the grassy field. 

“I’m the dramatic one? Have you met yourself?” Nick simply shrugged and laced their fingers together. 

“I have dear, and I’m absolutely lovely. And I’m unique because I don’t have anything magical.”

“That you know of.” 

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?” Harry snorted at the offended look on Nick’s face and pushed open the door to their apartment building, dropping their hands. 

“What I mean is that you aren’t necessarily void of magic, it could just manifest at a later age than others. My sister for example didn’t have her magic manifest until she was in her last year of uni.” Nick just snorted a laugh and shook his head, pressing the button for the elevator, grabbing Harry’s hand once again.

“Listen, I understand what you’re trying to do, but I really don’t care about not having magic because plenty of people don’t and I like being Unique in our group of friends so there.” Nick completed the sentence with a tongue out at Harry as the elevator doors opened, and they were pushed to the side as a small group of people walked out into the lobby. Stepping in, Harry pushed the button for their floor and leaned back against the back wall.

“Well I don’t understand why you don’t want magic, it makes things so much easier.” Harry pouted up at Nick and Nick just sighed and pulled Harry closer, kissing him on the top of the head.

“Whatever you say babes. Now, what’s for dinner? I’m thinking take-out to give you a day off of cooking.” Harry shrugged and leaned into Nick, pulling away only slightly when the elevator dinged softly and the doors opened. Humming quietly, Harry let himself be led to their apartment, glad that Nick is as thoughtful as he is strange. 

**

The next day had Louis once again in his store, but this time Niall was there, which made things more lively overall. That and all of the creatures towards the back of the shop love him, which make them easier to control and groom and do other creature related things, like make sure they're healthy and not about to tear the others apart. At the moment, Niall was in the back room, getting a blood bag for once of the vampiric bunnies. Louis was elbows deep in one of the tanks of leeches, letting them feed from him. So of course that’s when they get a customer. Louis looked up as the bell above the door rang gently and saw that it was Harry. He was focused on getting something out of his messenger bag, and not looking at the front desk which is good. Turning back to the leeches, Louis surged some magic through his arms which caused the leeches all to detach with as little pain as possible. Pulling his arms out of the tank, he put the lid back on and grabbed the towel set next to it and dried his arms off as he went up to the front. Slipping behind the counter he sent a small healing spell through his arms which closed up the small wounds before turning to face Harry. Harry was holding a box that looked to be a bit too small for anything to be held inside, but then of course he made the box bigger and pushed it across the counter to Louis. Knowing it was impolite to ask what magical being someone was, Louis let it slide and focused on the box in front of him. He saw small swirls of magic seeping out from under the lid. Louis let his hand hover a few centimeters over the lid of the box and hummed slightly when he felt that there was some powerful magic protecting the box. Pulling his hand back, Louis turned it around so the latch was facing him.

“So this is the box that contained the potion from yesterday?” Harry nodded and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Yeah. I got lucky because it’s made of wood so I could manipulate it to fit in my bag.” Humming slightly, Louis unlatched the box and carefully lifted the lid. Looking in it, he saw the small and non-magical items (scrapbook and some scarves) first. Lifting those items out of the box and onto the counter, he looked over them briefly before turning back to the rest of the contents of the box. The envelope contained something that was soaked in celestial magic and, when Louis tried, wouldn’t open. However, the amulet is the thing that Louis was the most intrigued in. 

Louis put on one of his protective gloves and lifted the amulet up and out of the box. Harry wandered towards the back where all the creatures were, letting Louis do his thing. Louis put up a shield of magic around him, trapping the magic emanating from the amulet. Closing his eyes, Louis sifted through the memories and spells that were contained within the amulet. Nothing was interesting enough to warrant him buying the thing. Opening his eyes, Louis sighed loudly and condensed the protective containment bubble to an airtight seal around the amulet. Looking up, he saw that Harry was looking at the vampiric bunnies in the back. Shaking his head slightly, Louis sat down and sorted through the other contents in the box.

“What’re you looking at?” He jumped slightly and looked over at Niall who was holding one of the few non vampiric bunnies in his hands and was petting it gently. Carefully, Louis set the amulet down on the counter and took the bunny from Niall. Nodding at the amulet, he turned to face Niall.

“Pick that up and tell me what you think about the energy coming from it.” Niall shrugged and reached for the amulet. However, before he could touch it, the containment shield broke and sent out a thin line of magic towards Niall, zapping him. Hissing loudly, Niall scooted back and cradled his hand to his chest. Louis quickly conjured up a stronger containment spell and pulled Niall to him. 

“How do you feel, has anything been strongly affected?” Niall simply offered up his arm for Louis to look over. Pushing him down into the chair, Louis put a spell on Niall’s hand, containing the spell that hit him from the amulet while not letting it affect his normal magic. Thankfully, the magic didn’t get into Niall’s bloodstream. Muttering to himself, Louis carefully drew the magic up and out of him and then put an extremely strong containment bubble around the magic. 

“Alright, you’re good to go. Don’t touch that amulet.” Niall grinned at Louis and got up, giving Louis a kiss on the cheek and grabbed the bunny off of the counter and went to the back where the hutch was. Sighing loudly, Louis pushed the bubble back to where his workbench is and put the shields up so it couldn’t escape. Turning around, he jumped slightly when he saw that Harry was standing in front of the counter, fiddling with the strap of his bag and staring at one of the elk hearts. 

“Those aren’t for sale if you’re wondering.” Harry hummed slightly and looked up.

“Oh, I wasn’t thinking of buying them.” Louis nodded slightly and put everything back in the box except the amulet. Pushing the box back to Harry, he smiled innocently at him.

“It’s funny when people try to buy them, I always enjoy the new vials out front that come out of the exchange. Anyways,” Louis gestured at the amulet on the counter. “I need to look at this further to see what is up with it and also examine the magic that zapped Niall. I’ll give you a hundred dollars for the amulet for now though.” Harry nodded as he shrunk the box back down and placed it in his bag, Louis once again put the money in an envelope and handed it to him, watching him as he left. As soon as he was gone, Louis let out a loud sigh and moved the amulet back to his workbench. Sitting down for a bit, he waved his hand at his mug, refilling it with hot tea. After a few minutes of resting, he got back up and went back to the leeches tank to let them finish feeding. 

**

it's been a few weeks since what Niall deemed the ‘Amulet Incident’ and Louis has only seen Harry twice since then. Humming to himself, Louis tried to focus on the book in his lap but was having trouble due to how loud the creatures in the back were and the subtle power pulsing through the shop. Zayn was in the little greenhouse area near the fire exit checking on the plants, and completely unaffected by the power in the air. Halloween was coming up in a few days and items in the shop were going wonky. Closing his book, Louis sighed loudly and put his head in his hands. He would try to do some magic to calm down but being this close to Halloween, it'd be a bit risky. Louis looked up when he heard the bell above the door ring and smiled when he saw Harry enter. His smile turned to a look of confusion when someone entered right behind him, and Louis couldn't sense any magic coming off the person. Sitting up, Louis grabbed his mug and took a slow grounding sip as he observed the new customer. It wasn't the first time someone non-magical wandered into the shop, in fact he had a regular who wasn't magical. However it's the first time that a non-magical and a magical came in the shop together. So yeah, Louis was a bit intrigued.

The person slid an ID card over the counter towards Louis. Picking it up, Louis let the memories, even as faint as they were, wash over him as he read the information on the card. _Nick Grimshaw_. _Why does he sound familiar?_ Sliding the card back across the counter, Louis leaned back.

“Nick Grimshaw. Welcome to Elk Heart Emporium. How may I help you today?” Nick pocketed his ID and gave Louis a wide smile and places a book on the counter.

“I was wondering if I could pawn you this book, and maybe get your number?” Biting back a laugh, Louis gave him a small smile and looked the book over, trying to determine if it was magical or not. It was definitely old, much older than it looked and hummed in Louis hands like it was alive. It looked like a book of fairy tales and would sell for a pretty penny if the witch from the shop down the street bought it. Setting it back down on the counter, he settled in his seat and looked back up at Nick.

“I’ll give you forty dollars for it. As for my number, aren't you with Harry?” Person in question turned around from where he was examining some of the animal bones that were scattered around on various shelves. Seeing both of them looking at him, he waved happily before turning to look back at the bones. Nick shrugged and turned back to Louis.

“Yeah, but I can still make friends with people can't I?” Louis shrugged at that and put the money for the book in an envelope, waving his hand at it so his number appeared on one corner. Handing it to Nick, he smiled slightly and pointed at the number. 

“Wait until you're out of the shop to put my number in your phone, or better yet, give it to Harry because I'm gonna assume he magic proofed his phone.” Nick nodded and put the envelope in his bag before wandering off to where Harry was (now inspecting some of the pots of herbs set out on shelves). Deciding it wasn't the smartest idea to magic the book onto the shelves, he slid off his stool to put it away. Maybe the reason why the book was humming was because of all the magic in the shop, it might be affecting it in some way. Sighing softly, he put the book on the shelf next to one of the original printings of _Kinder- und Hausmärchen_. After making sure it was secure where it was, Louis wandered around the shop, checking on the plants that were able to sit out of the greenhouse, and made sure nothing else was acting out of place. He looked up from some of the simple potions he had for sale when he heard his name. Glancing at the front counter, he saw that Harry was looking around for him, but wasn’t looking at the front counter. Good, at least that magic was still working, so at least not everything was going wrong.

**

Louis was actually glad that it was Halloween, because it was the one of the few days a year where he wasn’t running the shop. Zayn tends to run the store on the holidays soaked in old magick because he was a fairly young nymph and his magic has an overall calming effect on the store. So he was taking it easy, which for him is waking up at noon and then heat up the leftover sesame noodles Zayn made the night before and curling up on his bed with his laptop, ready to binge watch some YouTube videos. His day off was going nicely until his phone rang loudly, interrupting his video and the peacefulness that descended on the apartment. Groaning loudly, Louis paused his video and grabbed his phone off the side table, putting his bowl down in its place. Sliding his thumb across the screen, he put his phone on speaker and curled back up under the blanket.

“Louis why aren’t you at the shop? Are you sick?” Smiling softly at the concern in Harry’s voice, he sat up and shut his laptop gently

“I’m at home love, it’s my day off, I don’t work on Halloween due to my magic being rather strong today. Why were you at the shop anyways?”

“Wanted to ask you if you were up for hanging out with Nick and I tonight, but if your magic-”

“I’m down for hanging out, what time?” Louis figured that if he was with another magical person and a regular human his magic would balance out and make this Halloween more bearable than the last one (as long as he isn’t called in by the Council).

“Nick and I were wondering if you wanted to come over and binge watch horror movies with us.” Humming softly, Louis grabbed his bowl and went into the kitchen while Harry was talking.

“I think I can do that, can I text you later about it though, I need to make sure I don’t have any other plans.” Other plans as in being summoned by the Council for a variety of reasons. Louis tuned Harry out slightly as he looked over the calendar stuck up on the fridge. Maybe he should bring Zayn with to meet Harry and Nick officially. Grabbing the rest of the noodles, he hopped up on the counter and scrolled through his phone.

*

Shifting his bag to his other shoulder, Louis checked the address on his phone before knocking on the apartment door. Zayn couldn’t make it, something about having to meet up with friends and something else, Louis wasn’t really paying attention. Humming quietly, he lifted his hand to knock again when the door opened to reveal Harry with a towel wrapped around his head and waist, a shirt in his hands. Raising an eyebrow at Harry, he smiled slightly as Harry struggled to pull his shirt over his towel wrapped hair. After a minute of struggling the shirt finally was put on and Harry was letting Louis in.

“Sorry about that, I just got out of the shower. Make yourself comfortable, I'm gonna go finish getting dressed.” With that Harry rubbed Louis hair and disappeared down a hallway. Kicking his shoes off and pushing them against the wall under the coat rack, Louis wandered further into the apartment. Dropping his bag on one of the armchairs in the living room, Louis looked around as he sat down on the couch. The decor feels very homey and relaxed, and the magic weaving through the air calmed Louis down considerably. Sitting on the window sill were rows of potted plants with little labels on what type they were and what magical properties they had. Smiling to himself, Louis got up off the couch and went over the plants, deciding to mess with at least one of them. Rubbing his hands together, Louis went over to the plants on the window sill and examined the neatly labeled pots.

_**Sage. Uses; immortality, longevity, wisdom, protection, calming. High time: summer solstice, mid day**._

Louis decided that strengthening the magical capabilities of the sage would be okay. Glancing around to make sure that he was completely alone, Louis pushed his sleeves back and turned back to the pot of sage in front of him. Carefully, Louis let his hands hover over the plant and let some of his magic flow through his hands and into the plant. Thankfully, the sage plant didn't have any negative reaction to his magic and in fact soaked it up, growing a few inches and by the time that Louis pulled his hands back, the energy was stronger than before. Smiling at his handiwork, Louis turned around and promptly yelled out of surprise when he found Harry standing a foot behind him. 

Harry (understandably) looked a bit suspicious of what Louis was doing so after Louis moved back to the couch the first thing he did was check the sage plant to make sure that it was actually okay. He must have sensed how powerful the plant was because when he turned back around he looked at Louis a bit shocked. However, before he could say anything, Nick bursts in through the front door, one hand gripping a dog leash and the other holding at least three large plastic grocery bags. Once the dog sees Louis, they start barking up a storm and Nick has just enough time to unclip them from the leash before the dog runs at Louis and jumps on him, licking his face. 

“Pig, down you know that's impolite!” Harry would be the one to act like the dog could understand him. Pig turned to look at Harry guiltily, whining softly. Louis wrapped his arm around the dog and held them in his lap.

“I’m fine with Pig sitting with me. Unless it's a house rule..?” Harry shook his head and took the grocery bags from Nick. 

“It’s fine, she just won’t let you up is all.” Louis hummed slightly and let Pig settle in his lap, smiling as she let out a loud huff. So far so good really. 

*

The plan of the evening was to watch horror films while munching on the pizza Harry made along with the various bags of candy Louis brought over. However, that plan derailed once Louis found out that Nick hadn’t seen any of the _Harry Potter_ films (“I’ve seen bit and pieces of them!” “Nick, shut up okay we are watching all eight films”).

At the moment, they just finished the _Chamber of Secrets_ and Harry was back in the kitchen,grabbing some healthier snacks than the pizza, candy and popcorn they’ve been eating for the past couple hours. Louis stretched and dug through his bag, locating his phone and wincing a bit when he saw over ten missed text messages from Zayn. Scrolling through them on the lockscreen, he sighed in relief when it was just him live texting the movie he was watching. Flopping back on the couch, Louis unlocked his phone and texted Zayn back about how he was enjoying his time at the Gryles Residence (as Harry calls it). Locking his phone, he looked up as Harry came in with a big bowl of chips and another big bowl of popcorn. Placing the bowls on the table, he sat down next to Louis and clicked play for _Prisoner of Azkaban_ right as Nick came back from the bathroom and sat on Harry's other side, settling in to watch.

*

Halfway through the movie, Harry fell asleep with his head on Louis shoulder and his feet up against Nick’s thighs. Nick turned the volume down and gently scooped Harry up off of the couch. Louis gave him a confused look and Nick just shrugged.

“He doesn't sleep well if he isn't in bed. I'll be right back.” Louis nodded and grabbed the bowl of chips and curled up against one corner of the couch, content to watch the movie. After a couple of minutes Nick came back and dropped down on the couch, grabbed the chips from Louis and put his feet up on his lap. 

“Nick what the fuck.” Nick just shrugged and wiggled his toes and leaned back against the arm of the couch. Pouting slightly, Louis lunged for the bowl of chips, managing to land his head somewhere on Nick’s stomach and a hand in the chip bowl. Too lazy to actually get up and move, he stayed where he was and continued to eat the chips and watch the movie. After a few minutes, Nick dropped his hand down to play with Louis hair, which led to Louis falling asleep soon after with a smile on his face.

**

Louis was resenting the fact that he decided to not wear his gloves that morning, since that made walking to the small coffee shop down the street from his apartment that much more unbearable. Shouldering the door to the shop open, he sighed in relief as the warm of the place washed over him. He pushed the door shut and then went to go order something when he heard his name being called from one of the tables near the windows. Turning around, he saw Nick sitting with Harry who looked like he was in his work uniform. Waving back, he gestured at the counter before he turned back around and regarded the menu. Hot chocolate seemed to be the only logical option for him, so he turned to order when lo and behold, Niall was standing behind the counter. 

“You work here?” Niall gave him a mischievous smile (well it could be called that if you squinted maybe) and shrugged.

“I work where I work. What’ll it be for you today Lou?”

“Hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. And what do you mean that you work where you work? I thought you were ‘independently wealthy’?” Niall simply shrugged and put Louis order into the cash register and accepting the cash Louis handed over. Handing his receipt, he tapped his nose with his free hand and then went to make Louis drink.

“Go sit down with your boyfriends, I’ll bring your drink right over.” Sputtering slightly at the last comment, Louis would’ve argued about the fact that Nick and Harry were in fact not his boyfriends but it would be futile and not worth the energy. Shaking his head at Niall, Louis turned and went to where Nick and Harry were sitting. Sighing, he dropped his bag on the floor next to their booth and sat down next to Harry (who seemed to be the warmest of the two),

“Niall is annoying.” Harry snorted and covered his mouth while Nick just rolled his eyes at Louis dramatics. Shrugging out of his coat, he hung it up on the small coat rack on the outside of the booth and leaned into Harry. 

“I thought you liked Niall?” Louis pouted at Harry and cuddled into him further.

“I do, he’s just so annoying. That and the fact that he seems to know everything, it’s not fair,” Pouting more he slumped into Harry and let out a loud sigh. “He won’t even tell me what he is and that is entirely unfair because he acts like he’s older than me and I haven’t met anyone older than me!” Harry laughed of course, but Nick looked at him with a look that said ‘confused puppy needs hugs and reassurance.’ It was actually kind of adorable. 

“How old-” 

“Old enough. Story for another time love.” Nick was about to say something else when Niall showed up and set Louis hot chocolate down in front of him. Niall then (of course) messed up Louis hair and then dodged Louis hands. Laughing loudly, he disappeared into the back room behind the counter. Fixing his hair to look sort of decent, he sat up and wrapped his hands around the mug of hot chocolate, content to just sit with Harry and Nick and let them talk around him. 

**

Christmas was always a hectic time for Elk Heart Emporium, since people decided that magical items would make some excellent gifts. Of course, Louis warned some people about just exactly what certain objects could do and which ones carried a buried curse that would show up probably in the summer, and would most definitely show up if they lived in a really old house in the middle of nowhere (really, why would you do that to yourself and your family?). So once again Louis was in the shop, managing the books and the various potions that he kept behind the counter, trying to figure out what he should get for his sisters and one little brother. Obviously, because the Fates love him, he had a customer come in when his head was still under the counter. Lifting his head up quickly, he hit his head on the underside of said counter. Swearing loudly, Louis pulled back and rubbed the back of his head as he sat up.

Nick was standing in front of the counter, biting down on his hand trying to muffle his laughter. Louis just glared at him and waved his hand at his mug, refilling it. Sitting down on the stool, he picked up his mug and raised an eyebrow at Nick, waiting for him to calm down, which took longer than it probably should have. Eventually he calmed his fit of giggles rested his hands on the counter, leaning into Louis.

“Want to go to a Christmas party?” An odd question really. Glancing over at the calendar tacked onto the wall and then back at Nick, he raised an eyebrow.

“I have a Council meeting on Friday. When’s the party?”

“Saturday, think you could make it?” Louis should say no really, he knew that the only way he was going to be able to recover from the Council meeting was to stay at home away from other magical beings the best he can. However, he really wanted to hang out with Harry and Nick before he left to go back to his mom's for the break. Shrugging, Louis leaned back.

“I’ll try to go. Any other reason as to why you're here? Gonna buy Harry a gift?” Nick shrugged and looked around the shop. 

“I mean, I have a few small things for him, we aren’t gonna get each other anything big or expensive. I might get him another head scarf.” Nodding slightly, Louis glanced down at the potions under the counter and then back up at Nick who already wandered off. Sliding off the stool, Louis went back to fixing up the potions and the books. After a couple minutes. Nick bought a small necklace and then left, letting Louis know that he should come over after he closes up. Louis just shrugged, told him he might and went back to organizing the books. Closing time came and Louis closed up shop and then stopped by the small Indian place near his shop, picked up some food and headed over to Nick and Harry’s. Overall an uneventful day. 

** 

Council meetings were always stressful, even more so when he’s literally older than every board member on the Council (long story). However,this meeting wasn’t them checking up on Louis to make sure he hasn’t broken some Code of Conduct that Louis most likely helped write which means it has a bunch of loopholes that no one but Louis knows about. This meeting was about how the Council needed Louis advice of things to do, seeing as there was some dark energy descending upon the Council members and people were being snatched up left and right without discretion. So Louis is standing in front of the Council, long dark robes and everything, serious look on his face. Of course, the seriousness was a bit ruined by the bright icy blue that Louis dyed his hair this morning. Other than that, everything was completely one hundred percent serious. Which means Louis has to use all the normal formalities which is such an inconvenience. One of the many formalities Louis has to obey is waiting for the person addressing him (and the person who is addressing the person addressing him) to stop talking and indicate that it's Louis turn. Every so often Louis can feel his phone vibrate against his thigh under the robe, but he figures it's nothing important. 

“What do you advise we do _liten gud_?” Louis bowed deeply at the Council member speaking to him and turned to address her.

“Thank you Councilwoman Sigrid. Since this is dark energy that we are dealing with, I suggest some of the normal things. Sigils, protective spells and partnering up and the such. However, in all my years I haven't encountered this particular type of dark energy so I'd just make all the protective things stronger than you normally would.” The council members waited for Louis to bow again before whispering among themselves. Stepping back, Louis retreated into the robe, glad that the hood of the thing was as large as it is. Glancing around the curved bench, he took in all the Council members. The one that stood out to him the most was the one that was sitting at the very end on the left, listening intently to the people talking next to him but being shushed whenever he tried to talk. When he looked over at Louis, Louis smiled at him and gave a small wave.

The meeting went on for another half hour, slowly draining Louis more and more. As soon as the meeting was over and he was out of the room, Louis pulled the robe off and shoved it into the bag he had on under it. Waving at the members of the Council, Louis pushed his way past them and out the front door. Power walking, Louis closed his hands around the straps of his bag to hide the shaking of his hands and stopped at the nearest bus stop to catch a ride home. Thankfully there was a bus when he got to the stop. Stepping on and dropping his fare into the box next to the driver, Louis made his way to the back. Sitting by himself he stared out the window, trying to calm down and ignored the way his phone kept vibrating in his pocket. Council meetings were always stressful and draining, no matter what they were about. Sighing to himself, Louis watched the small town he lived in slip past the windows of the bus.

In what felt like no time at all, Louis was out on the street near his apartment complex, walking the rest of the way since there wasn’t a bus stop. The first thing he saw when he finally unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside was Zayn sitting in the foyer with a giant cat in his lap, that for some reason had a bright purple bow wrapped around its neck. Louis kicked his shoes off, dropped his keys on the small table and hung his bag up on the coat rack before Zayn turned to him. Raising an eyebrow, Zayn simply shrugged and held the cat out for Louis.

“Niall dropped her off as a gift, said that she was asking after you.” Louis took one look at the bright piercing green eyes of the cat and burst into tears. Sitting down heavily against the door, he covered up his face as he sobbed, overwhelmed by not only receiving the oddest (yet extremely thoughtful) gift of a cat, but the entire day as a whole. The cat in question wormed her way out of Zayns hands and padded over to Louis, climbing into his lap. Sniffling loudly, he moved his arms down when the cat started meowing at him loudly and nudging his arms. Carefully, Louis scooped up the cat and nuzzled his face into her fur, tears still falling but not as urgently as a few moments before. He could feel that Zayn was looking at him worriedly but the cat seemed to have some calming magic in her, which was immensely helpful to Louis who hated crying in front of others. Purring loudly, the cat started to lick the side of Louis face, causing him to laugh weakly. Pulling back, he pet her along her stomach, sniffling on occasion.

“Lou are you alright?” Louis looked up at Zayn and just shrugged before turning back to the cat in his arms.

“Council meetings are stressful, and this one was even more stressful than it should've been.” Zayn nodded and got up from where he was sitting on the floor. Moving over to where Louis was, he ruffled his hair and grabbed Louis bag off of the coat rack.

“You should take your jacket off and go take a nap. Think of a name for the cat when you wake up okay?” Nodding, Louis let the cat down and got up, shrugging his coat off and tossing it at the broken arm chair before heading to his room. Flopping down on his bed, Louis barely stayed awake long enough to kick his shoes off before passing out.

**

Parties always tend to be something Louis isn't good at. All the energy of people packed together in a small space with loud music and alcohol being consumed gets to Louis and makes him either wired to the point where his magic pulses out of him or slows him down to the point where it looks like he's drunk even when he hasn't taken a sip of alcohol. So he was expecting something similar to happen at the Gryles Christmas party. However, everything seemed to be calm and mellow. The music that was playing through the hidden speakers was loud enough to be noticed but not overpowering. Maybe it was Harry's plants, or maybe it was the fact that there was an equal amount of magical and non magical people at the party, but Louis felt calm and relaxed and almost at home. He was jostled out of his thoughts by a familiar arm wrapping around his middle.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Louis looked up at Nick and shrugged gently, smiling a bit to himself.

“This party is much more calm than some others I've been to.” Nick hummed and laid his head on Louis shoulder, watching Harry tell a long winded story of his full of gestures and pauses as he gathered up his thoughts.

“I think it's mostly Harry and his plants to be honest.” Louis leaned into Nick and smiled softly as Harry almost knocked a glass of the coffee table.

“I think it's both of you really. You two balance out my energy and it feels nice.” Nick didn't say anything to that, simply pressed a kiss to the top of Louis head and squeezed him once before letting go and walking over to Harry to finish telling the story for him. Louis smiled fondly at the two of them, glad that for once a relationship seemed to be budding and it didn't terrify him. In his mind, there's nothing wrong with maybe wanting to wake up in the middle of those two and maybe kiss them and hold their hands. Biting back a smile, Louis went to the couch and laid himself across both Nick and Harry's laps and started telling the story of the time Harry almost got bit by one of his vampiric bunnies. And yeah, Louis could really get used to this.

** 

Around a week into the New Year however, shit started going wrong. The moment that Louis woke up, he sensed that something was off which made him feel off and he could tell that his mother sensed something was up with him. If this were a movie, this would be the moment with the ominous music in the background and it would rise to a high pitch until his phone rang which would cause the music to drop off dramatically. As it was, the Phone Call didn't occur until it was almost dinner time. When he heard his [ ringtone](https://goo.gl/GuIOee) for Nick (some 90s pop song that Nick chose because of the train horn in the beginning of the song), Louis grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter and went out to the sunroom before answering. First thing he heard was Nick crying which just made him feel even more off and wrong.

“Nick, love what's wrong why are you crying?” Louis was bouncing on the balls of his feet nervously, watching the snow fall down gently outside. When Nick answered him after having calmed down slightly, Louis felt his stomach drop down to his feet.

“H-Harry’s missing.” Biting down on his lip, Louis sat down on the couch in the sunroom and tried to calm down.

“When did he go missing do you know?” 

“N-no, but Zayn is here and h-he’s trying to find out what-” Nick got fainter and he heard Zayn mumble something before he talked to Louis.

“Louis I have no idea what happened but Nick has a broken arm that I gave him some pain meds for it and I just put him under with a simple sleeping spell. I’ll take him to hospital later. However, all I could find of Harry is dark energy residue and a note with SC on it.” Sighing loudly, Louis sat down on the couch and put his head in his hand.

“Okay, I’ll head home as soon as I can, anything else that I should know?”

“Nothing for now, but I have a bad feeling about this.” Louis hummed in agreement before hanging up and dropping his phone on the couch next to him. His magic was tingling at his fingertips, begging to be used for destruction and for Louis to leave now and go looking for Harry. Standing up, Louis grabbed his phone and went back inside, shooting off a text to his mom who was at work that something came up and he needs to go back to Montclair as soon as possible. Running up the stairs, Louis tossed the clothes that he brought with him back into his travel bag and scooped up the various presents, putting them in his old school bag. Grabbing his charger, Louis did one last look around the room before heading downstairs and out to his car. 

**

When he got back, he barely had enough time to see if Nick was alright before he was pulled into yet another Council Meeting. He was given his robe but he refused to put it on, not wanting to be covered up and have his magic tamped down which is the purpose of the robe. Standing once again in the middle of the room, Louis watched as the Council members came in and filed into their seats one by one. He could feel his magic trying to burst out of his hands, hellbent on destroying everything till he found Harry. Clearly his magic knew that he was in danger and wasn’t happy with it. As soon as the Council was all seated, Louis spoke up

“No, I don’t know what happened, yes Harry is missing and no I am not going to listen to formalities this time because I am stressed enough.” He stared each of the important Council members down, daring them to defy him. The Head Council member sat up and stared at him with an icy glare. The other members started talking among themselves, but the Head Council member didn’t break gaze with Louis. Under normal conditions, Louis would’ve withered under their gaze (even though he is older than them), but since he is under such stress (and worry, along with running on only a few hours of sleep) all Louis did was stare right back, hardening his gaze and maybe letting a little of his magic spark out of his hands. Smirking, they sat back in their seat and waved their hand at the other Council members who fell silent instantly. Everyone turned to look at them as they steepled their fingers together, regarding Louis cooly.

“Normally, such insolence would have you banned from all Council meetings henceforth, but due to the circumstances I shall let it slide just this once,” Louis rolled his eyes slightly at their speach, he knew that the Council would be useless without him. Narrowing their eyes at Louis, the Head Council member continued. “What we know thus far is that the dark energy only concentrates on people who are in or about to be in a significant relationship with a member of the Council, and is only targeted if they have magic in them.” 

“Well I figured as much since whoever the energy is took Harry and left Nick. Tell me something that is worthy of my time here Councilmx Iden, otherwise I am just going to leave and try to find Harry myself.” Glancing around, Iden sighed and leaned forward, resting their elbows on the table in front of them and looked at Louis over their glasses.

“What we can tell you since you aren’t an official member of the Council is that the dark energy has a human form that goes by the name of Simon Cowell. For further information, you’ll have to check the archives.” Nodding, Louis gave Iden a sweet smile and waved his hand at the members of the Council.

“Thank you for your time Council. I now declare you dissolved for the foreseeable future.” 

“You don’t have the authority to do that! You aren’t the Head of the Council, and you aren’t even a member!” A few other members also raised their voice in protest, but Louis had enough at this point and the clock was ticking to find Harry. Waving his hand in the same semi-circle as the Council bench, he pushed his hand down hard and effectively silenced all of the members.

“Yes I do have the authority, I am the oldest person in this room which gives me the Authority and the Ability to dissolve the Council for however long I see fit. If you don’t believe me, check over the charters that _I helped write_ and get back to me on that when I call you back. As of now however, the Council is Dissolved for the foreseeable future and you should all leave now.” Curling the hand that is facing the ground into a fist, he pulls it up and then opens it, thrusting his hand at the door behind the bench. In unison, the Council members stand up and then file one by one out the door, letting it shut with a satisfying snap. Letting his hand drop to his side, Louis took a deep breath, scooped up his robe off the floor and then left through the main entrance, hellbent on finding Harry and destroying Simon. 

**

The only lead that Louis could find (with Zayns help) took him to a rather creepy, albeit well maintained mansion in the countryside somewhere in Pennsylvania. Once him, Zayn and Nick came up with a sufficient enough plan, the three of them were off to find the house. At the moment, Louis was sitting in the backseat with Nick, holding the hand that wasn’t in a cast, and was bouncing his leg up and down nervously. It seems to be that most of the states on the east coast were just covered in forests and it happened to be kind of soothing in a way. Nick leaned his head onto Louis shoulder and squeezed his hand gently, like he was reminding Louis that despite all of the arguments Louis made against him coming with, he was still here and apparently always will be. Sighing quietly, Louis turned to look at Nick and saw that he was asleep. Louis kissed his temple softly and rested his head on Nick's and turned to watch the trees go by.

*

Slowly, Harry came to, blinking his eyes open slightly. Harry tried to push his hair off his head but was stopped when he felt his arm pull at something. Harry made a noise of confusion and tried to tug his arms back into his body but was met with resistance. Flipping his head back so his hair would get out of his face, the first thing Harry saw was what looked to be exposed wooden beams. The second thing he notices is that he’s strung up from said beams like a puppet. Gripping at the chains attached to the cuffs he had on, Harry tried to pull either himself up to the beams or the beams down. Of course he had no luck, nothing was going his way today. Sighing, Harry let go of the chains and dropped his head down to look at the floor. After a few minutes, he hears a door open and then shut, the sound echoing through the room. Lifting his head slightly, Harry looked down at the man standing just in front of the door through his hair.

He was old, which was actually a bit surprising. Looking him over, Harry could tell that if he was standing on the ground, he’d be a bit taller than the man. Also, the man had a really ugly looking haircut and Harry had to bite his lip to prevent himself from saying anything about it. However, the most noticeable thing about him (to Harry at least) was the controlled waves of dark energy coming off of him. Harry tried to shrink back but he couldn’t, seeing as he was suspended in the middle of the room. Tugging once more on the chains, Harry went limp and watched the man as he smirked up at Harry, before walking out of his line of sight. Harry kicked his leg out and tried to swing himself up enough that he could get onto the beam he was chained to. He just started swinging when he was forced still and all the breath was knocked out of him.

“Now now Harry, you aren’t being very polite are you?” Harry gripped the chains next to his hands and tried to move the rest of his body but to no avail.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I supposed to be polite to the dick who kidnapped me out of my home while I was asleep and then chain me to the ceiling? Sorry, didn’t fucking catch that in the manual.” The man circled around Harry so he was facing him and smirked at him before twisting his hand to the left slightly. Out of nowhere, Harry felt as if his very being was being ripped apart slowly. Screaming out in pain, Harry thrashed and tried again to escape his bonds but to no avail. After a few seconds when Harry was about to pass out from the pain, it stopped. Falling limp in the bonds, Harry hung his head and sniffled loudly, trying to keep the tears in. He felt as if all of his nerve endings were fried and overstimulated. When the man dropped his hand to his side, the chains that were holding Harry to the ceiling disappeared, and he fell to the floor, landing hard on his side. Crying out weakly at the pain, Harry curled up into a ball on the floor and tried to hide himself to no avail because he was still in the middle of a room with that man standing over him, cackling loudly. Apparently, he wanted Harry to look up at him, since when he didn’t he kicked Harry in the side _hard_ and if Harry didn’t feel like hell, the kick certainly made him feel worse. Whimpering in pain, Harry looked up at him through his hair and curled up even more. 

“Who even are you? What even are you?” The man chuckled and crouched down. Grabbing Harrys hair, he made him look up at him. Biting down on his lip to hold in the whimper of pain, Harry tried to cower back into the floor. Leaning in closely, he tugged hard on Harrys hair before answering. 

“I am the dark energy you’ve been hearing so much about. I am the one that your precious Council is most afraid of. And I will be the one that destroys the great Louis Tomlinson, but first I need to get him here, which is why you’re here Harry. Now as to who I am, in this form I go by the name Simon Cowell. Understand?” Nodding, Harry tried not to let his relief show when Simon let go of his hair. Hell, even the shove back into the floor was better than being that close to Simon's face. Of course, his relief didn’t last long, because a few seconds later, Harry was being tugged back up to the ceiling and was being chained back up. Sighing in defeat, Harry went limp and closed his eyes, trying to will himself back into sleep, wishing that Louis was here or that he was back home.

*

The next time Harry woke up, it was with a start. Lifting his head up, he saw Louis standing in the doorway, with the door right up against the wall with a large scorch mark in the center. To the left of him was Zayn, who had vines crawling along his arms and a look on his face that Harry couldn’t read from this distance. On the right side of Louis stood Nick, one arm in a cast and a bat in the other hand. Nick was the first person to spot him and when he did, he tried to run towards Harry. The second he stepped foot in the house though, Harry once again felt like his being was being torn apart. Screaming loudly in pain, Harry tried to curl up to get away from it but he couldn’t. He felt like he was covered head to toe in lava and he was burning alive. Squeezing his eyes shut, Harry felt tears run down his face and felt unconsciousness rushing up to meet him when out of nowhere, the pain stopped. Spasming slightly, Harry went completely limp in his bonds and started crying in earnest. He has no idea what is going on, he can’t really hear anything besides the rushing sound in his ears. He feels something soft wrap around his ankle gently, but he still flinches. Opening his eyes, he sees Zayn standing directly underneath him carefully wrapping the vines around his legs. Lifting his head up, Harry sees Nick hitting Simon repeatedly in the torso with his bat. Once he felt the vines wrap securely, the chains holding him up were cut and Harry into Zayn’s arms and net of vines. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Louis pushing Zayn out the door, shouting something at him or Nick, he couldn’t tell. Then blackness took over Harry’s vision and he passed out.

**

“Zayn you take Nick and Harry out to the car and stay there you hear me?!” Zayn nodded and grabbed Nick by the collar of his shirt, pulling him out the front door of the house. Nick being Nick, broke away from Zayn’s hand and stood in the doorway, tightening his grip on the bat.

“If you think for one minute-” 

“Nick, leave _now_.” Louis hated using his magic against people he cared about but he had no choice since Nick clearly wasn’t going to listen to him. Pushing his hand palm out at Nick, he watched as he was pushed out of the house. Quickly, Louis waved his hand at the door, causing it to shut and lock. As soon as he was sure it was secured enough, he turned on his heel to face Simon, who was standing right behind where Harry was hanging from the ceiling. Simon had his arms crossed across his chest and a smirk on his face, like he knew exactly what Louis was going to do. Balling his hands up into fists, Louis stood with his back against the wall, staring Simon down.

“So, Louis Tomlinson. We meet at last.” Louis scoffed at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, we’ve meet before _Simon_ , I remember you. It may have been a millennium, but I don’t forget a being like you, even if your physical form has changed.” 

“Well well Louis, you’re right. It’s been a long time since we last fought. I hope you can keep up.” With that, Simon pushed his hand out at Louis, shooting a beam of dark magic at him. Louis unballed his hands and put up a shield with on hand, deflecting the energy off to one side of the house where it tore apart the couch. Advancing on Simon, Louis summoned the energy from the air around him and started throwing lightning bolts at Simon. It’s been so long since Louis used even a fraction of the power his magic holds. Keeping the shield up with one hand, Louis waved at the objects closest to him and pushed his hand at Simon, quickly changing the objects into knifes at the last second. Infuriatingly, Simon dodged all of the attacks and just laughed at Louis, not even trying to throw anything back. Louis pushed a wave of powerful energy at Simon before dropping his free hand. Simon deflected it and raised his left hand, clearly preparing to do something. The second before he thrust his hand at the ground, Louis knew what was going to happen. 

The millisecond right before the ground directly in front of Louis cracked open, he dropped his shield and used both hands to shoot bright white energy directly into Simon's chest. Louis felt his sneakers slip on the floor as it tilted sideways, keeping his hands pointed at Simon, he used the tilting floor to push himself forward and closer to Simon. Dropping one hand, he watched as Simon dropped down to his knees as Louis advanced on him. Upping the energy coming from his left hand, he aimed his other hand at the remains of the chains that were left after he cut Harry down. As soon as the chains were the length that Louis wanted, he dropped his other hand and cut the energy off. Turning to face Simon, he saw the older man was gasping on the floor, clutching his chest. Louis would’ve felt sorry for him, if it was the history of the past thousand years where he terrorized the magical populus, driving them underground for a few centuries. Louis raised his right hand and clenched it in a fist, and then slowly lifted Simon into the air by the front of his shirt. Simon tried to struggle against the hold Louis had on him, but to no avail. At the end of it all, Louis is still more powerful than Simon could ever hope to be. Bringing him over to the chains, Louis had them wrap around Simon’s wrists securely before dropping his hands, letting the man dangle by his hands. Stepping back slightly, Louis smirked up at him.

“Well well Simon Cowell, how does it feel to be defeated by someone younger than you and strung up like a puppet hmm?” Simon glared at Louis and spat at the floor right in front of his feet. Louis tsked and pushed Simons feet, causing him to swing slightly. Simon opened his mouth to speak, but Louis wasn’t having it so he conjured up a cloth gag and had it stuffed in Simon's mouth to keep him from talking. Louis hasn’t even monologued yet and he wasn’t going to let Simon take that from him. Walking around him slowly, Louis smiled to himself.

“Listen, Simon old pal. We’ve had some times yes? Remember that time that I tore you apart, atom by atom and banished you to the deepest pits of Hell? Do you remember how that felt? I hope you do because what I am going to do to you will be even worse than that. No, this time I’m going to fuse you to this form and then tear you apart atom by atom and scatter you so you won’t be able to come back. How would you like that hmm? That’ll be fun yes?” By this point, Louis was standing right in front of Simon, his hands glowing with a lot of power, ready to get to work. Simon was mumbling something against the gag and honestly, he has no courtesy. Tapping a finger against his shin, Louis stepped back and aimed one finger at the middle of Simon’s throat. 

“I think we’ll start by getting rid of your voice box yes?” With that, a small beam of blinding white light came out of Louis fingers and hit straight in the center of Simon’s throat. He started struggling but to no avail really, once the voice box was gone and destroyed, Louis held his hands out, palms facing Simon and smirked at him evilly. 

“Let’s get started shall we?” 

*

Louis dusted his hands off as he walked out of the house and back to the car. After he was done with Simon, he found the other people who were missing in the basement and told them to take the car in the garage to get home, handing the one who looked the most capable to drive the keys he found in the kitchen. He trusted them to get themselves home and maybe he’ll call the Council back together after everything is settled. However, all that mattered at the moment was seeing if Harry was okay and if he needed actual medical attention or not. Sliding into the backseat next to Harry, Louis wrapped his arms around him and nodded at Zayn to start driving. Closing his eyes, Louis sent calm healing magic into Harry, to make him feel better even if he was out cold. Nick placed his hand on top of Harry’s head and the three remained in that position for most of the drive home, letting the soft music Zayn put on wash over them.

**

May was one of Louis favorite times of the year. His sales went up due to all the high school and college students taking their finals and they needed something to boost their concentration for studying. Louis, being the nice person he is, always offers a discount to students if they have their student ID on them as their form of identification. Smiling to himself, Louis leaned his elbows on the counter and propped his head in his hands, observing his shop and thinking over the past few months. 

The dark energy has finally been banished from this realm, and Louis called the Council back a few weeks after the Banishing as he calls it in his mind. They took the dissolvement of the Council in stride, only occasionally throwing snide comments at Louis, but overall they were grateful to him. They’ve had a few meetings since then, but for the most part the Council is leaving Louis alone. Louis looked over at some of the herbs that Harry donated to the shop and smiled softly. Harry made a full recovery from the attacks from Simon within a week after the incident but he has nightmares of the ordeal on occasion. Luckily, both Nick and Harry are there to calm him down. Speaking of Nick, Louis looked up when he heard the bell over the door ring softly and smiled widely at the taller man walking through the door. He moved out from behind the counter and wrapped his arms around Nick tightly, burying his face in his chest. Louis felt Nick laugh as he wrapped his arms around Louis middle. Pulling back after a few minutes, Louis looked up at Nick.

“Are you excited for today?” Louis nodded and gave Nick a kiss on the cheek before slipping back behind the counter to ring up the purchases of the students. As soon as they were all gone, Louis grabbed his bag and hoped the counter.

“Zayn will be here in a few minutes to hold down shop, so we can go now.” Nick nodded and took Louis hand in his and walked out. Louis waved his hand at the door once it shut, locking it and having the sign flip over to _Will be back soon!_ Today was an exciting day because Louis was finishing up his move into Nick and Harry’s place after spending the better part of seven months over at theirs. Today was also a big step in their relationship, and Louis would think that they were all moving fast (Louis has only been Nick and Harry’s boyfriend since the end of February), except the fact that apparently Nick moved into Harry’s a month or so into their relationship. So yeah, Louis is excited. Zayn already said that he would be asking his girlfriend to move in and that he’ll turn Louis’ room into a guest room and office. Smiling to himself, Louis leaned into Nick as they walked to his and Harry's apartment which apparently wasn't all that far away from Elk Heart Emporium.

The second they were in the door, Harry enveloped Louis in a hug, squeezing him tightly. Laughing, Louis hugged Harry back and dragged Nick into it. They stumbled around some of the boxes that Louis brought over the day before before they made their way to the couch and collapsed on it in a big pile, with Louis at the bottom. His knee was in someone's side and all he could see was the wide expanse of Harry's chest and one of Nick's arms, and in his opinion life couldn't get any better than it was at this exact moment. 

☆☆☆

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated! Let me know what you thought of this and if you want more!
> 
> My [tumblr](stardustlouie.tumblr.com) is open to any questions you have about this ‘verse since I love to talk about it!!


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